Richard Dumas: organized retail theft

[GMATCa]

I guess that this news is not surprising considering who it is, but ...

Ex-Phoenix Suns forward Richard Dumas arrested in Arizona - ESPN

Innocent until proven guilty, but ...

I was watching this game, from February 7, 1993, back in September:

02/07/1993 NBA Box Score at PHO - basketballreference.com

Dumas was a prime Vince Carter-type athlete with better instincts about how to play the game. In the NBA Finals that year, he averaged 15.8 points in 26.7 minutes on .571 field goal shooting; he sometimes showed too much one-on-one game for Pippen and Jordan to handle.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

What a dumas

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

He had VC potential wtf.....

 

[Jonas_steven]

He had VC potential wtf.....

Oh...he definitely had VC potential! I wouldn't anoint him the next derozan, because that is a once in a generation player, but still good nonetheless.

 

[Jonas_steven]

I absolutely agree with you GMAT. Growing up a bulls fan, I remember that playoff series well. I remember he actually drove by Jordan a couple times for easy lay ups. That was a fun series!

 

[UA_Stapler]

I wouldn't anoint him the next derozan

hahahaha...Jonas, that's hilarious!

 

[GMATCa]

I absolutely agree with you GMAT. Growing up a bulls fan, I remember that playoff series well. I remember he actually drove by Jordan a couple times for easy lay ups. That was a fun series!

... for sure. Last June, Jack McCallum of Sports Illustrated declared it the greatest Finals ever.

Here was NBC's closing credits for the series, where one can see a couple Dumas highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUM4qKmRzA

Here was NBC's introduction to Game Six, with a clip of Dumas going straight up and jamming down on Bill Cartwright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX5S1r5bUw8

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

We all want K Love right?

 

[Davis_Mike]

Dumas was derailed by weed & coke. He was given multiple chances & couldn't keep clean. And this all took place only a few short years after the Suns' teams that were full of coke heads which forced the league to change their testing & drug program. After 3 seasons the Suns had no choice but to release him.

The guy had so much talent & let it slip away. His quick hops would make Shawn Marion look like Jared Dudley.

How stupid can you be to rob a base PX?

 

[Jonas_steven]

We all want K Love right?

I don't see what a Christian radio station, 105.5 on the dial, has to do with basketball...

 

[GMATCa]

Dumas was derailed by weed & coke. He was given multiple chances & couldn't keep clean. And this all took place only a few short years after the Suns' teams that were full of coke heads which forced the league to change their testing & drug program. After 3 seasons the Suns had no choice but to release him.

The guy had so much talent & let it slip away. His quick hops would make Shawn Marion look like Jared Dudley.

How stupid can you be to rob a base PX?

Naturally, alcohol was one of the substances that Dumas abused as well. I suspect that alcohol use, which was probably banned in his amended contract, is what got him kicked off the Suns once and for all, when Phoenix actually waived him during the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals versus Houston.

The Suns likely learned that Dumas was getting high on drugs again during the summer of 1993, after the Finals, and they thus had a deal in place by September 1993 to ship him to Detroit in exchange for Dennis Rodman. But then the news broke that Dumas had checked himself into rehab and the deal fell through.

Dumas was actually a member of the Suns' organization for four seasons. They drafted him in 1991 and he played so well in training camp and the preseason that he was in line to play a significant role even then. But Cotton Fitzsimmons never felt that Dumas was clean, and sure enough, he ended up flunking a drug test right before the start of the '91-'92 regular season.

In four seasons with the Suns, Dumas played a grand total of 63 regular season games.

 

[Orange602]

I don't see what a Christian radio station, 105.5 on the dial, has to do with basketball...

Are you and Jahii advertising for them?

 

[Jonas_steven]

Are you and Jahii advertising for them?

It is quite the elaborate plan! Way too deep to get into right now!

 

[GMATCa]

Naturally, alcohol was one of the substances that Dumas abused as well. I suspect that alcohol use, which was probably banned in his amended contract, is what got him kicked off the Suns once and for all, when Phoenix actually waived him during the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals versus Houston.

After reading the ESPN article more carefully (I just quickly posted it before the second half of last night's game), I see that it says that the Suns finally waived Dumas in May 1995 because he missed a drug test. He could have missed it because he was drinking, though. Dumas' agent at the time, James Bryant, was careful to note that Dumas hadn't tested positive for a substance banned by the collective bargaining agreement, but the Suns banned alcohol as part of his amended contract when he came back in March 1995.

Contractually, the Suns were not allowed to comment on why they ultimately released him.

... not that it matters at this point.